The First Batch Of Powerwall Batteries Are Finally Being Installed In Australia

After having been announced last September and slated for release before the end of 2015, the first shipment of Tesla Powerwalls to our shores is a touch delayed, but is finally here. The first Powerwalls have now been installed in Sydney’s Hills District.

The first shipment of batteries arrived in Australia this week, being one of the first regions in the world — along with North America — to receive the highly anticipated Powerwall. The 7kWh lithium-ion batteries store excess energy collected from household solar arrays, allowing it to be used in the evening when solar panels are no longer generating free electricity.

You can choose to install just the Powerwall system, the Powerwall with compatible solar panels or, if you’re one of the 1.5 million Australians who already have solar panels installed, there is the option to retrofit a Powerwall to your system with the addition of a compatible inverter. While the Powerwall doesn’t come with energy management ad monitoring software of its own, you can also arrange this through installers like Natural Solar.

If you are interested in getting a Powerwall installed at home, check out our full pricing breakdown and payback analysis. The Powerwall comes with a 10 year warranty, though the estimated payback period for most of the bundles is around 20-25 years. Natural Solar is offering a number of payment plans for “customers to be cash flow positive from day one”, although for early adopters the advantage of the Powerwall likely to be more about sustainability and independence than financial gain — especially for those with solar panels who are stuck with feed-in-tariffs that are well below retail electricity prices.

Installations have been scheduled in all major states and territories beginning next week, with South Australia and Tasmania in particularly being known for adopting household renewable energy generation. If you want to get your own Powerwall installed, you can do it through Natural Solar or one of Tesla’s other partnered installers.